Volunteering

Befriending

Do you have an hour or two a week to spare?

If so volunteer with Supporting Older People.

We carefully match you with an older person who maybe isolated and lonely. Volunteer visitors offer support and friendship, usually on a weekly basis. This contact makes a lasting difference, raises self-esteem, maintains independence and greatly improves quality of life for the older person and, often, the volunteer.

We encourage volunteers of all backgrounds and ages. We support young volunteers, some of whom choose to volunteer with SOP as part of their application for the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme. This is beneficial in integrating generations.

We arrange a meeting with the Befriending Manager for a chat about what the role entails and to fill in an application form. We ask for two references and a Disclosing and Barring Service check. Once the paperwork has been returned you will meet your older person. The Befriending Manager will go with you on your first visit to help “break the ice”. You will be issued with a Volunteer Handbook which covers the do’s and do nots of volunteering with Supporting Older People.

Let’s Connect Telephone Befriender

Would you like to make a difference to an older person who is feeling lonely?

Do you have half an hour a week to spare for a chat over the phone about shared interests with a

likeminded older person?

If you are good listener and enjoy a chat this is the volunteer role for you.

As a Telephone Befriender we would ask you to call an isolated, older person once a week for a telephone call lasting approximately 30 minutes. A regular phone call can make all the difference to a person who may have lost touch with old friends and family or their health may prevent them from getting out and about.

Supporting Older People will give you the necessary support for the role and we will aim to match you with someone with similar interests.

Volunteer Driver

Our team of volunteer drivers transport our Supporting Older People members to and from our activities. This means one or two journeys per month – the more drivers we have the more people can come to our activities.

Trustee

We are always keen to hear from people who are interested in joining our Board of Trustees. Formal meeting take place quarterly, but our trustees also support many of our activities and events. We are particulary interested in people with a local business background.

Fundraiser

As a charity we are always looking for new ways to raise funds so we can continue our work in the community. We welcome all ideas and suggestions for events and we always welcome new faces to our fund raising group.